Evaluation of glacier mass balance by observing variations in transient snowline positions

• Main Author: Oestrem, G.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1973
• Subjects: GEOPHYSICS; Norway; glacier; Ice cap
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2060/19740004942

The author has identified the following significant results. The transient snowline on five outlet glaciers from the Jostedalsbreen ice-cap in Southwestern Norway could be determined from ERTS-1 image 1336-10260, when bands MSS 5, 6, and 7 were combined in an additive color viewer. The snowline was situated at a very low altitude at the time of imagery (24 June 1973) indicating that glacier melt was behind normal schedule, a fact that has a hydrologic bearing: one could expect less melt water in the streams. The idea to use ERTS-1 imagery in snowline determinations proved realistic and relatively easy to apply in practice. The method will be useful to estimate the glaciers' mass balance for large areas, provided some ground truth observations are made. Images from the end of the melt season are of course vital in this work.